Meissonier, his life and his art . ly lived! It is this small portion which I have attemptedto collect from the familiar notes of his sayings, taken down by the friend who became hissecond wife. The readermust not expect either acontinuous biography, ora detailed appreciation ofthe masters work. Whathe will find is simply thetruth about himself by aman who, in his studio, athis easel, riding in thewoods of Saint-Germainor Marly, travelling inAntibes, Venice, Holland,or Switzerland, quitting anexhibition, a mu-seum, or a meetingof the Institute,considered, touchedupon, or discussedthe most vari
Meissonier, his life and his art . ly lived! It is this small portion which I have attemptedto collect from the familiar notes of his sayings, taken down by the friend who became hissecond wife. The readermust not expect either acontinuous biography, ora detailed appreciation ofthe masters work. Whathe will find is simply thetruth about himself by aman who, in his studio, athis easel, riding in thewoods of Saint-Germainor Marly, travelling inAntibes, Venice, Holland,or Switzerland, quitting anexhibition, a mu-seum, or a meetingof the Institute,considered, touchedupon, or discussedthe most varied subjects, as circumstance or the impression of themoment moved him. Nothing; could be freer or less didactic. Butwhen brought into relation one with another, these scattered musings,now lofty, now playful, now grave, now piquant, always sincere andsimple, offer a series of indications, almost of confidences, whereinthe man, the artist, reveals himself, living and natural, in the familiarsetting of his own thoughts and EARLY YEARS EARLY YEARS. His childhood was gloomy, his youth hard and laborious. Suchearly experiences as his are the common lot of artists who make theirown way in default of help and encouragement in their homes. InMeissoniers case, however, his trials had this special feature, that theymoulded his character, without embittering the sources from which hissoul and genius drew their nourishment. He grew up to be bothtender and courageous. If, as he said, certain dates were hopelessly lost in that gulf of thepast, into which thought plunges like the diver after pearls, the emotionsconnected with them had not faded. He adored his mother. Judgingby the portrait he drew of her, she w^as a woman of refined andpleasing appearance, and cultivated mind, who had a taste for the INSTITUTION dlrigee par M^ Isidore GUILLET, Saccesseur dc M. LEPITRERue , N. 9, au Marais. M. cM/Pcc/y^.^ . A^Elev de la Classe de / / CyO NOTES HEBDOMADAIRES t/u -//f St<^
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